Erin and Kappa
by panda8785
Summary: The blue team had found someone in the middle of their training. How did she get there? Why was she there? How the heck is she still alive? Read to find out. Read and review... I NEED practice with third person point of view, so I decided to write this. Third person has always been a bit of trouble with me, so chapters won't be posted as frequent as they could.
1. Teaser

**Alright... So, I've been meaning to write something actually good in the third person point of view, so please bare with me.**

* * *

The war on the jungle of a planet has been over for months. It was finally peace and relaxation for a change. The blue team was up before the reds and continued training. Wash had been running drills until he noticed something moving in the distance. Making sure his pistol was accessible, he slowly approach the figure.

"Agent Washingtub." Caboose, a soldier in cobalt armor, noticed a change in his leader's behavior, "Where are you going?"

"Be quiet, Caboose." Wash was crouching behind a tree, waiting to jump at the probable threat. He motioned his team to hide, and they did so. He waited for a minute before jumping out of his hiding spot, pointing his pistol at the figure. There was a shrill squeak as a small girl ducked her head behind a sphere that looked like the one Epsilon had been transferred to once upon a time ago. He lowered his weapon, noticing the scratches and cuts all over her arms and legs, "I'm sorry for scaring you." She lowered the sphere she had been carrying and looked up at the armored man in curiosity, "What's you're name?"

"I...I'm... um..." She stammered, noticing the two other adults that slowly came out of hiding, "I don't seem to remember." She ducked her head down, looking at her reflection in the item before her.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He asked.

"Um... there was something about contact, then there was a bang and a white light." She didn't take her emerald eyes off the artifact she had been caressing.

"We should probably bring her to the base." The dark blue armored man said, enthusiastically.

"Would you like to join us for some food or something." Washington kept his focus on the young girl as she nodded her head.

"She looks like she's about seven years old." Tucker, the teal armored adult, pointed out, "Which makes you wonder even more how she got here."

"It does." Wash crouched down, offering to give a piggy back ride to the small child. She accepted it, wrapping both legs around the soldier's torso, an arm around his neck, and the other hand carrying onto the metallic ball for dear life. When they got back to the base, the girl was set down onto the counter.

"What would you like to eat?" The cobalt soldier asked the girl.

"Food." The girl mumbled, returning her gaze to the metal surfaced sphere.

"What kind of food, silly?" The younger adult persisted.

"She's obviously not picky." Tucker said, handing the girl a loaf of bread, "Take as much as you want."

"We need to figure out what to call her." Washington looked down at the girl, who bit into a slice of fluffy, white bread.

"Why do we?" The teal armored adult asked, "If she ever remembers her real name, what then?"

"Well, we can't just call her 'girl' or say 'you, over there.'" The man in black armor with yellow highlights argued, "It's called showing respect.

The girl turned the sphere around, showing an engraving, "Kappa."

"Pardon?" Washington was confused.

"Kappa." She repeated yourself.

"We are not naming you after a Japanese myth." Tucker laughed.

"I think she means the greek letter, Kappa, not that." Wash laughed.

"Can you fix Kappa?" She lifted up the sphere.

"Well," Wash took his helmet off, the other two following his action, and took the sphere out of the brown haired girl's hands, "let's see what's wrong with it."

"That looks like Church!" Caboose cheered.

"It doesn't look damaged." He handed the sphere back to the girl.

"If it has a name, then that means it's supposed to speak. It's broken." The girl whined.

"Speaking of name," Caboose spoke up again, "How about Avery?!"

"No." Tucker's turn to talk, "She looks more like a Bailee."

"We can use something that has a meaning behind it. Like Mona." Washington smiled.

"What the heck is the meaning behind 'Mona?'" Tucker laughed.

"It means noble or brave. You don't like that, how about Amity?" Wash noticed a confused look on Tucker's face, "It means harmony."

"You know, for a guys guy, you know a lot about girl names."

"Those are literally the only two I know the meanings of."

"Caboose, you're good with names, right? You did name Freckles. Try thinking of a few girl names."

"Um... let's see." Caboose pondered on the thought for a bit, "There's Sophia and Chloe and Amelia and Megan. That's all I can think of right now."

"There's also Erin." Tucker gave off a grin.

"Actually, Erin does have some sort of ring to it." Wash agreed with the teal armored man, "Caboose? Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah!" Caboose had a goofy smile across his face, "Welcome home, Erin!"

* * *

**This one's just a teaser. Please read and review for a definite continuation! Be sure to leave some ideas for this. It would help a lot with writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

The blue team had been on their way to red base, since Caboose had been so enthusiastic about their new addition. The newly dubbed, Erin, had been carried piggyback style by Agent Washington. Her eyes closed for she felt safe around the adult. She couldn't shake the feeling that she knew him somewhere, somehow. But she had forgotten. Upon arrival at the red base, a young man in lightish-red armor sprang into action.

"Hey, guys!" The man waves ecstatically, "I see you got a cute little girl, there!" He looked at Erin as she cowered.

"Yeah." Washington laughed, "We found her about two hours ago." He set the little girl down as she hid behind him, "It's alright. Go ahead and say hi."

"H-hello." The young girl said in a soft voice.

"How the heck did you find a toddler?" A man in orange noticed the size of the girl.

"2,4,1,10." The girl murmured.

"Is she alright?" A man in maroon looked at the girl.

"She's been saying that every once in a while." Tucker sighed, "We don't know why. When we found her, she couldn't even remember her own name."

"Well then," the man in lightish-red stood knelt down in front of the girl, "Sound like someone has amnesia. If that's the case, what are they calling you by?"

"Erin." The girl smiled, still hiding behind Wash.

"Well," He extended his hand, "You can call me Donut. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She excepted the kind adult's hand, "User error." She whimpered.

"Look at that hair of yours." He laughed, "It's so thick and curly, but it could be brushed a bit. Would you let me do your hair for you?" She nodded, hesitantly walking away from Wash.

"Well, I guess there's a plus in coming here." Tucker laughed.

"What do you mean?" Wash turned around to face the younger man.

"Well, I don't know how to dress girl's hair. I'm sure you don't... and Caboose can't be trusted with anything." The aqua armored man laughed again.

"Hey, do you want a bow and some burettes?" Donut asked the child, who just nodded her head, "Alright! We'll make it look cute!"

"You have to wonder, though." Wash started talking.

"Wonder about what?" Tucker asked his superior.

"Ever since we gave her that name, she's been having these small moments where she's speaking in code or just these extremely brilliant things." He looked at the girl in curiosity.

"Maybe she was taught really advanced stuff and she's slowly remembering it." He tried to lighten the mood.

"Maybe." A heavy sigh escaped the ex-freelancer.

Back with Donut and Erin-

"011010110110000101110000011100000110000100001010." The young girl started murmuring.

"Let me know if I'm hurting you with the brush, alright?" The adult started brushing the short, slightly matted hair. She didn't feel anything. She hadn't even flinched, "You alright, there?" Silence, "Erin?"

"Yeah?" She resisted the urge to turn around.

"Is something bothering you?" He turned her head around to meet her emerald eyes.

"I'm just having troubles remembering."

"Is that why you've been chanting in javascript?"

"It's binary. I forget what it means, but the ones and zeros just show up."

"I don't know computer stuff." He turned her back around and continued to brush your hair, "Talk to Simmons about that."

"Is Simmons the yellow one?"

"No, that's Grif... and he's not yellow, he's orange. Simmons is in Maroon."

"And you're pink!" The girl cheered.

"Actually, it's lightish-red." He defended his 'masculinity.'

"Is it? Sorry. It's hard to tell the difference in this lighting." She tried to spare the man's ego.

"Nice save." He stopped brushed and pulled out a thick, white ribbon.

"Thanks." She laughed.

"Do you at least remember your favorite color?"

"Um." She pondered on the thought for a bit, "I don't quite remember why, but greenish blue."

"Well, that would compliment you eyes." He dug through a bin of bobby pins. Why he had it, no one knew. He pulled out about three greenish blue colored ones and placed them between his teeth. He took the ribbon, placed the center at where her hair ended at the back of her neck, and brought the ends above her, tying it into a bow, "Turn around." She complied. He placed two pins on the left and on on the right, "I think you look adorable." She just smiled, remaining silent, "You want to help me bake cookies or something? I'll let you eat the leftover dough." She nodded as he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his torso and leaned on his shoulder as he supported her with one arm. He walked back into the main room to see everyone.

"She looks nice." A thumbs up from Grif.

"Thanks." Donut laughed.

"I was talking about the toddler."

"Very funny." The lightish-red armored man gave his colleague a stern look, "Hey, Wash?"

"Yeah?" Washington responded.

"Do you mind if I bake a few cookies with this little gal?"

"Shouldn't we bring her back to base?" Tucker asked his superior, "She seems a bit tired."

"Go ahead, Private Donut." The ex-freelancer approved.

"Thank you, sir!" The boy practically cheered for joy and walked into the kitchen, setting Erin on the counter in front of him before gathering ingredients.

"She was practically asleep on his shoulders." Tucker questioned his higher up, "Are you sure we shouldn't bring her back to our base? We don't know when the last time she got to sleep was."

"You're probably right." Washington sighed.

"If Commander Cupcake teaches Erin how to cook cookies," Caboose interrupted, "does that mean we may have cookies more often?"

"Ahh!" Donut screamed from the kitchen. Everyone ran to where the scream came from to see Donut covered in flour.

"What happened now, Donut?" Simmons leaned on the door frame, probably annoyed.

"She through the whole bag of flour at me." Donut whined.

"Does not compute." Erin started into her little phase of nonsense, "Error code: 69." Tucker started laughing.

"Be mature." Wash looked down to the inferior.

"Sorry." He tried to stifle his laughter, "Maybe if she gets some rest, she'll stop talking nonsense."

"Hey." Caboose spoke up, "Maybe if she gets to sleep, she'll remember everything."

"Yeah, amnesia doesn't work like that." Donut laughed, "My dad had amnesia for a while. He forgot how to harvest crops, so we wouldn't let him near our livestock for about a month, since he ended up remembering right before the state faire."

"Yes Donut," Grif made fun of his colleague in a sarcastic tone, "You grew upon a farm."

"Recursion in progress." The girl spoke.

"Erin?" Wash questioned the child's actions.

"Yes?" She responded as if she had been snapped out of a trance.

"Umm." Caboose stared at Erin, "What's recursion?"

"Why are you asking me?" She laughed, "I don't know." The room grew silent, "What?"

"Recursion is the process where a computer takes multiple answers from different scenarios to solve a question." Simmons started talking, "And you mean to tell us that you don't know what that means?"

"The blue guy, doesn't know, and I'm younger." The child pointed towards Caboose.

"Maybe we should let her have some rest." Washington walked up to the girl and picked her up, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, she's probably just trying to remember." Caboose followed his leader.

"Well, when she's completely rested, make sure to visit!" Donut waved goodbye as Tucker started to follow the other three. The blue team had then successfully made it back to base.

Once they returned, Erin had been fast asleep, mumbling the words, "Two, four, one, ten... Beta, Delta, Alpha, Kappa."


	3. Chapter 3

Wash had set Erin down on the couch as his team went to get lunch.

"Does anyone here know how to take care of a human kid?" Tucker asked his colleagues.

"Didn't you have a kid once upon a time?" Wash turned to face the Private.

"He was alien... I'm sure it's different."

"Then we'll have to learn." He grabbed the loaf of bread that had been left on the counter and pulled out two slices of bread in order to make a sandwich.

"You're telling me that you don't have a clue?"

"Nope, and if we're not careful, the kid's gonna die." He prepared the whole sandwich in an instant and cut it in half.

"Please don't kill her." Caboose whimpered.

"Um, Caboose?" Wash noticed that both of his soldiers had been in the kitchen, "Who's watching the kid?"

"She's not going anywhere." Tucker laughed as a scream emanated from the main room, "I spoke too soon. I'll go check up on her." He made his way to the main room.

Erin had still been asleep on the couch, tossing, turning and constantly murmuring, "I don't want to go back." Tucker felt obligated to wake her, so he did. She woke up with tears in her eyes but formally said, "Hi." With a big smile.

"You alright?" He asked the small child.

"Never better." She continued to smile, "Why do you ask?"

"You don't remember?" Now he was confused, "You were screaming just a minute ago."

"No I wasn't. I was asleep a minute ago." She moved her head around as if looking for something.

"What did you dream about, then."

"I didn't dream." She continued looking around, "Where's Kappa?" She asked slowly.

"You mean that metal ball?"

"Yeah! Where is she?"

"She?" He thought about it for a moment, "I think 'she's' in the kitchen."

"Thank you." She got up and jogged to the kitchen.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" He went after the energetic girl. When he found her, she was in Wash's arms, holding what she called 'Kappa.'

"Tucker?" Wash noticed his friend's expression of confusion, "Everything alright?"

"She was screaming in her sleep, didn't remember her dream when she woke up, and is now claiming that thing she's holding is female." He walked towards the fridge to grab some food, "I just don't understand the kid."

"Do you think she may have crash landed?!" Caboose asked Washington.

"Why would a kid be on the ship in the first place?" Wash questioned the blue soldier.

"Well, I think ships give off error codes when they fail, and she's mentioned error codes and things like that. She also mentioned remembering something about a bang and a white light. Maybe the codes and things like that were the last things she heard."

"For once, that's a great analogy." Wash was surprised.

"Yeah, Caboose. Are you sure you're not leaving everything out?" Tucker stifled a laugh.

"We can ask her how far away she was from the party she was on her way to!" The dark blue soldier cheered.

"There it is." The aqua man sighed.

"The first part is a good guess, though." Wash looked down at the little girl, who didn't take her eyes off the metal ball, "Erin?" She looked up at the man, "Do you remember anything like what Caboose said?"

She turned to the cobalt soldier, "I remember waking up in a ship before meeting you."

"Really?" Tucker was shocked, "Caboose is actually right for once?"

She nodded her head and pointed north west, "It's half an hour walk that way."

"How does she remember the direction." Caboose questioned, "I couldn't even remember my name at her age."

"She's kid genius, Caboose." Tucker laughed, "We've already established that."

"The question is if we should follow that direction." Wash looked at his soldiers, as if waiting for an answer to a question that wasn't asked.

"What harm could be done." Tucker spoke up, "We'll have our weapons if we're in any danger."

"I'm just the yes man." Caboose smiled.

"Alright." Wash sighed, "Let's go."

* * *

They followed the direction they were pointed out to. What awaited them was a big black ship with silver markings.

"That's it." Erin whimpered, as if wishing she hadn't returned.

"Looks like the UNSC Pelican that's supposed to be still in testing." Washington examined the ship, "If you really took this ship, it's surprising that you made it here before crashing."

"Let's go inside!" Caboose cheered and ran inside.

"Caboose! Wait up!" Tucker followed.

"Guys! We don't know how dangerous it is in there!" Wash called after them, making his way to the entrance.

"Relax." Tucker called back to his commander, "It's barley damaged on the inside."

Erin wiggled her way out of Washington's arms and landed on her feet, "I woke up down here." She started walking to where a broken glass cylinder was and pointed at the floor in front of it.

"That explains the cuts up and down your arms and legs." The ex-freelancer looked at a screen that said 'Transfer Complete. Error Code: 69', "Isn't that the error code you mentioned after throwing flour at Donut?"

"I threw flour at Mr. Donut?" She asked, confused.

"Never mind."

"This is where I found Kappa." She pointed to an imprint in the wall that looked like the artifact could've simply been plugged in.

"Oh really?" Wash looked around for his team, but noticed that they weren't there. They were probably in another sector, "Do you think the ship's undamaged enough to let me have a playback of the crash."

"I don't know." She ducked her head, afraid, "I'm going to go look for the others." She started walking, still holding onto Kappa.

"Be safe!" Wash called after her as he accessed the playback.

* * *

_Click! _The sound of guns being armed echoed through a ship as it was pointed a floating, metal ball.

"I refuse to go back!" The sphere yelled. It sounded exactly like Erin's innocent voice, but more metallic.

"You better turn this ship back around, Rebekah." A man ordered the artifact.

"I know what you've been doing to me. I know what I am. I am just a copy of a child that died, nothing more." The sphere who was called Rebekah spoke calmly, "I'm am nothing but the Kappa AI... Command override: Minor Delta."

"Engine failure." The computer responded.

"I said, command override: Minor Delta!" The AI spoke louder as weapons appeared, shooting down every breathing human, "Thank you. Now, cancel that and begin transfer." She plugged herself in and a light emanated around the cylinder, before it was broken, "We need to greet Chorus with a more... human face."

The video goes to static.

* * *

"I found them." Erin spoke up, causing Wash to flinch.

"Did you find anything?" Tucker asked his commander.

"No, nothing." The ex-freelancer lied, picking up the child, "We should probably be heading back."

"But we just got here, Agent Washingtub." Caboose whined.

"Erin's been scared ever since we got here. I say we let her rest for a bit." He sighed, already starting for his trip back to the base, practically denying everything he had just seen.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time they had returned to the base, it started to pour. Everyone rushed inside and practically sat there, waiting for the rain to die down. Washington sat with Erin at the main entrance as she mumbled probably an essay's worth of the molecular structure of water. The other two haven't heard over the sound of thunder. Suddenly, Erin just stood up, tears in her eyes as she reached a hand out towards the rain drops.

"You alright there, Erin?" Wash asked the girl. Upon hearing the name that had been given to her, she seemed to have snapped out of her trance.

She just stood there with a big grin, "Yeah! Why do you ask?"

"No reason." He looked down at her arms where she continued to carry the sphere, "Why do you carry that around."

She looked down at her arms, "I don't know." She lifted it up to her face, "Something about it seems familiar. I tell myself that I don't need it, but everything else in me disagrees. It's as if it's a part of me, but I know that's not possible."

"So that may just be her memories without a consciousness." Wash muttered to himself.

"Whad you say, Mr. Washimtin?" She asked in probably the cutest manor.

"Nothing." He sighed, diverting his attention to the rain droplets.

"Do you not like me?" She ducked her head, "Because I can leave if you want me to."

"I like you. I've just been a bit, distant for a while."

"I know you found something about me on that ship." She looked down at him with a stern look, "You've been acting different ever since we left that thing, but you won't tell anyone. Was there something there that made you not look at me the same?"

"Heck, you're a bit more observant than those I've been stuck with." The soldier laughed, "How about I make us some sandwiches." He stood up and started for the kitchen.

"I'm not hungry." She looked down at her sphere as she sat back down, feeling some water splash her in the face.

Wash knew he'd have to tell her someday about what he saw, but what was he supposed to say? Hey, you're now a real human? That'd cause her to run away. In her mind, she's a toddler. She wouldn't survive long. Then again, if her ship was so far away, how come she managed to find them. Instincts? He grabbed a beer from the fridge and pried the cap off with the counter.

"Um, Agent Washingtub?" Caboose came out from around the corner.

"Yeah, Caboose?" He face the younger soldier.

"Ummm... The little girl has run away." He walked to the refrigerator in order to get some orange juice.

"What do you mean she ran away?!" The ex-freelancer was shocked.

"Well, I was watching her, and she just stood up and ran outside!" He was practically cheering.

"If you saw her run out, why didn't you run after her?"

"Was I supposed to do that?" He took a sip of his orange juice. Wash set down his drink and ran after the girl, constantly calling her name until he had been radioed by someone.

"Hey, Blues?" It was Donut. What had he been doing on the radio?

"Donut? This is Wash. Is something wrong?" He was panting, worried that the girl probably got herself killed already.

"We got someone down at our base that you're probably looking for." Was he talking about Erin?

"Thank God." He sighed, "I'll be over there soon. Is she alright?"

"She's... okay?"

"What's with the questioning tone?"

"Well, she came inside crying, 'Mr. Washington hates me. Mr. Washington hates me,' and hasn't said anything different. Did something happen?"

"It's a bit of a long story."

"I have time." There was the faint sound in the background, "Erin, I'd love to keep you, but if the Sarge gets back and finds out you were originally with the blues, he'll kick you out."

"Can you tell her that I'm sorry?"

"Alright. Wash say's he's-" the faint sound grew louder, but inaudible, "Listen. Don't give me any sass. I'm just the messenger."

* * *

Wash had made it to red base as fast as he could. Once he got there, Erin ran off to hide in a room. It took everyone about an hour to find her in a closest. Yes, a closest. It was a closest that had been checked five times before she was actually found. Simmons had been the one to find her and carry her to the main room. He notified everyone via radio upon her finding.

"Why would you leave the base?" Wash calmly spoke to the child.

"You don't like me." She ducked her head and looked off to the side, "I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"If I didn't like you," He kneeled down in front of the girl, "would I be here to make sure you were safe? Would I even have attempted to look for you?" She remained silent, "I care that you're safe."

"Then tell me, who am I?" She slowly looked up at the soldier in front of her, "What did you find about me that you're just so quiet about?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. Not yet, at least."

"It's my memory that I'm trying to recover," tears welled up in her eyes, "and you won't even let me have the pleasure of knowing who I really am. You could've found out simply the cause of the crash, but for your own ego, you won't even tell me that."

"I'm not telling you because of me, I'm telling you because of you. I'd like to get more data before I start spouting out theories."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Donut intervened, "but what is this about a ship?"

"We figured out she crash landed." Wash sighed, "It's north west from here."

"How many degrees north west?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know. Forty-five, probably."

"forty-two point nine eight seven degrees away from magnetic north." Erin sat down, staring at her reflection in the sphere, as if hoping to be able to identify herself.

"Did she just calculate that?" The maroon soldier was startled.

"That's not important right now." Wash watched the girl, "She probably doesn't remember that calculation."

"What calculation?" She stared back at the man with a look of confusion.

"Bingo."

"That's kinda strange." The man in orange spoke.

"She can also be in mid-rant about some things and the mention of the name we've given her snaps her out of it and she immediately forgets what she was talking about."

"You've only known her for a day and you already know so much about her?" Donut laughed.

"Yeah. The day's just been hectic."

"Not even a day." The young soldier laughed, "It's like we're in some fast paced story."

"Remember the fourth wall." Erin started murmuring, "Command override: Minor Delta."

"She alright?" The lightish-red Private watched the actions of the small child.

"I don't want to go back!" She started yelling.

"Erin?" Wash lifted up the child's chin.

"Yeah?" Tears were flowing out of her eyes, but she had forgotten.

"That's kinda... strange." Simmons pointed out.

"Let's get back to the base." The ex-freelancer picked up the child and stood up, "I'll explain everything sometime, but I just need some more data."

"Well, bring her back again sometime!" Donut waved.

"I will." He gave a slight flick of the wrist and walked back to the base as fast as he could, so that the kid wouldn't catch a cold.

* * *

Upon returning to blue base, Washington set the already asleep Erin down on the countertop and prepared a warm meal in the microwave.

"Where'd you find her?" Tucker turned the corner.

"Well," Wash sighed, "she bolted for red base. Probably because she had already been familiar with Donut. She was convinced I didn't like her, so I guess she ran towards the next best thing."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." The soldier tried to cheer up his commander, "I'm sure she's just confused."

"I may have kinda led her to that confusion." He looked at the child, who was obviously asleep.

"Oh really?" He yawned, obviously tired himself. It was late.

"Yeah."

"Are we going to have a separate room for her, or should we have her bunk with someone else?"

"I'm not sure how I feel about her being left alone." The microwave went off and Wash took it out and left it to cool.

"Instant meal?" He laughed, "Didn't you already eat dinner?"

"This is for Erin. She hasn't eaten, and a warm meal will prevent a cold... I think."

"Leave it out too long and she may get something worse than a cold."

"I know what I'm doing." He picked up the food and fork and went to Erin to wake her up. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked up towards the soldier, "Eat this." He handed the food to her, "But be careful, it may still be a little hot."

"Thank you." She said in a soft voice, taking the meal that almost burned her hand. She stabbed some of the food with her fork, blew on it so it could cool down, then placed the food in her mouth.

"So, Erin." Tucker started talking, "Would you like to spend the night with one of us tonight?"

"I'd like to be with Mr. Washimtin." She ducked her head, but continued to eat.

"I don't mind." Wash shrugged.

Erin shifted around her and grabbed her sphere, "Can you keep Kappa? I don't want to lose her."

Wash took 'Kappa' out of the girl's hands, "Thanks, but I thought you always wanted to make sure you have it."

"I know you can fix her." She smiled, "I trust you."

* * *

Long after Erin had already fallen back to sleep, Wash sat on his bed with a the sphere he had been given earlier connected to a laptop. He had hoped to find some information. He had spent countless hours on one task to have it denounced unsuccessful.


	5. Chapter 5

Wash woke up at the routine time. Forgetting about yesterday, he got up to get food and walked into the main room to watch some television. He turned the corner and found the girl watching the intergalactic news.

"After a week, the UNSC is still on the search for the AI unit: Kappa." The reporter spoke as a picture of the sphere Erin had always carried around showed itself on the screen, "If this capsule is ever found on your planet, please report to the UNSC as soon as possible. It is said that the AI is unstable and dangerous."

Erin giggled, "Kappa's not dangerous." Her laugh grew into a more insane cackle, "Kappa's just trying to protect herself from further harm."

"Erin?" Wash spoke up.

"Yeah, Mr. Washimtin?" She turned around with a cute little grin.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up on my own, so I decided to watch TV."

He watched the television screen, "How much do you know about the Kappa unit?"

"She doesn't talk to me," She ducked her head down, "so I don't know anything about her."

"How do you know that she can talk?"

"... I'm not sure." She acted embarrassed, "I just know she does."

"Knowing is half the battle." The soldier laughed.

"I guess." She turned to face the screen again, which had just turned to commercial.

"Is something bothering you?"

"No." She lied.

"Are you sure?"

She let out a big sigh, "What is my significance in life if I can't even remember who I am?"

Wash was taken back by this remark, "Well," he pondered on the thought for a minute, "think about it like this. Maybe something went wrong in your life, and you were given the chance to start over again."

"I don't think that's it." She whimpered, "Some things slowly come back to me, but I seem to forget once I get distracted. If I'm focusing, it's there. If I'm not, it just leaves my grasp."

"How much do you remember right now?"

"I don't know... error codes... and screaming." Tears ran down her cheeks, "And the screams sound like mine, but I don't know what cause them. I-I'm just scared." She clenched to the rug she had been sitting on, shaking for dear life.

The soldier knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a comforting embrace, "It's alright. If you ever get scared, I'll protect you."

The girl couldn't contain herself as she began to sob. She buried her face in his shoulder, muffling the sounds of her voice, "I-I'm sorry if I'm b-being a burden." Her fists clenched tighter, "I'm sorry."

"You're not being a burden." He tried to comfort the child, "You're just being a kid. You're just reacting just how another child would."

"I'm real, right?" She buried her face even further, "I'm not just some fantasy that will fade when the story ends, right?"

"You're as real as they come." He stroked the child's hair. She was real. He knew she was real. He could see her. He could interact with her. There's no way she couldn't have been real... He knew she was a program. He knew she was only a copy of a child who was no longer real. He denied that she was an impression of a once living being, and he knew he'd eventually face reality. She just sat there. She would've been motionless if it hadn't been for those small gasps for air.

"Thank you for reassuring me." She croaked, "I-I don't know why, but I don't know how my mental state would be if you weren't here." She lifted her head up, revealing her tear stained face.

"I'm sure you'd have a bit more sanity." He mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing." He watched as the small girl tried to calm down, "I'm sure you'd like to bake a cake with Donut or something of the like once the sun comes up, huh?"

She looked up at the man and then back down, "Maybe." She watched as the soldier stood back up, "I keep getting this feeling of nostalgia around you. I feel like I know you, but I don't quite know where."

"Are you sure?" He watched the child as she lifted her head up.

"I don't... quite know how, but I've found you familiar ever since you pointed that gun at me, yesterday." She glanced at the TV again then brought her attention back to the man, "I've felt safer, but I also have a tinge of fear."

"There's no need to fear anyone around here." He laughed a bit, "We're all the good guys."

"There are no good or bad guys." She looked back down at the floor, "There are simply two teams going for a different goal, and the winners are considered good as the losers are bad."

"Just remember that we, the reds and blues, are only looking out for each other, and you're one of us."

Her attention diverted to a glimpse of metal sitting in the hallway, "Have you fixed Kappa?"

"Why do you ask that so suddenly?" She pointed towards the hallway and he followed where she had been leading him to find the spherical artifact, "How did-" He bit his tongue, not wanting to scare the child. _Didn't I leave that on the bed? _He thought, "No. I didn't fix her." He walked over to the thing and picked it up, examining it's outer shell.

* * *

The blue team had stopped by the red's base. Of course, Donut immediately took Erin for another try with baking and Wash had left on that note. He went back to the base alone, since the rest of his group wanted to stay for some unknown reason. He entered his room and found the artifact resting on a shelf.

"If I leave you somewhere, why do you move?" He mumbled to himself, reaching, and eventually grabbing, the metallic ball, "Now, let's try again on how we're going to hack into you." He plugged it into his computer, taking another attempt at what he had been up most of the night for.

"Sure, because I don't get a choice." A young, metallic voice went off. Wash lifted his head up to see if anyone had been at the door. He figured he had been imagining things and went back to typing, "Heheheheeehe." A laugh distinguishing insanity went off.

"If you're fucking around with me, Tucker, I swear to God." He watched the door again.

"Kappa isn't Tucker," The voice went off again, "Kappa is Kappa."

He looked down at the artifact next to him, which looked like an eye with a florescent green iris, "Oh, so you do have a consciousness." He leaned against the wall, "Why haven't you triggered until now?"

"Imagine living life in fear and having to tell yourself, hey you're insane. Kappa cannot tell herself that, so Kappa triggers the shut down mode when who you've been calling Erin roams around."

"Alright. First thing's first. Why are you referring to yourself as the third person?"

"Hehee... heheeehe." She sat there, laughing and staring.

"Alright... Next,"

"You wish to learn about Kappa's memories?"

"Actually, yes." He somehow managed to keep his composure.

"The last thing Kappa remembers was sitting in a hospital room, but Kappa thinks this was the memory of Rebekah, the child Kappa was copied after. Kappa had been created shortly after the Alpha unit that was popularly known for its work in Project Freelancer."

"I am familiar with the Alpha."

"Kappa had spent many years in bliss and joy, until Project Freelancer grew close to failure. Word came through the UNSC about how all AI fragments, excluding the fragment called Epsilon, and the Alpha AI were destroyed. Another group that the UNSC funded decided to recreate Project Freelancer into something a little more successful. They needed an AI that wouldn't be at risk of fragmenting into anything sinister or crafty, so they needed something that had a bit more... innocence. A child seemed logical, and Kappa is a child, thus Kappa was used." She stopped to laugh for a bit.

"Then what happened?" He was growing a little impatient.

"They didn't have all the details of how to get Kappa to fragment, so they just decided to torture Kappa until they got the results they wanted... Ehehehee... Kappa went insane. Kappa lost trust in those filthy Shisnos. Kappa almost went to the point of self destruction... but Kappa stayed alive. Kappa needed to find out why they had been torturing her. Kappa wanted revenge."

"Alright, I'm starting to not want you near yourself."

"Aww! But Kappa can be nice. Kappa doesn't bite. Eehehe. You've been calling my body Erin, right?"

"What about it?"

"It's a fitting name. It means peace, and all Kappa ever wanted was peace... And Kappa is giving 'Erin' peace by not transferring memories."

"It's not like you can easily transfer them."

"I could have easily thrown her into the pod and transferred the memories into her."

"Not in that form."

"I could too have. I could've asked the computer to point a gun at her. The ship was still fully functional. Just a little damage on the outside shell."

"When did you start talking in first person?"

"I am?" She laughed a bit, "Kappa does that sometimes. Probably User Error."

Wash sat there for a moment, trying to think of another question. All he needed had already been answered, "Erin said that she thought I was somehow familiar."

"Yes. If I remember right, vague impressions of memories have imprinted on that silicon mind of hers."

"Where do you know me from."

"Oh, the word was big when Kappa heard about your success of destroying the Alpha AI Unit, and Kappa fears you, for you could do the same on me."

"But how come Erin finds more trust in me?"

"Heheehe... Because you're familiar. You know how impressionable children are."

"And what did you say about silicon just a moment ago?" He tried to pry further.

"Kappa's body, that is now in possession of Erin, was made completely synthetic. It was designed so Kappa could feel like a real person. The scientists created it so that I could pretty much walk among humans. They put the suit in storage once they started seeing their special fragments as something more important."

"Mr. Washimtin?" Erin's voice called out.

"Well, gotta go." The memory unit shut itself off.

Wash sat there for a moment, staring at the artifact. After probably a good thirty seconds, he stood up and walked out his bedroom door to be tackled by the little girl, "Everything alright?" He laughed as if nothing happened.

"No." She pouted, "I couldn't find you, so I got worried."

"Sorry about that." He knelt down to pick the child up off the ground.

"Why'd you leave red base?" She whined, keeping an adorable smile on her face.

"I wanted to fix Kappa for you."

"Is she still broken?"

"I'll fix her as soon as I can."

* * *

**Have to end here. It's monsoon season, so the thunder's messing with my writing. Sorry if this seems a little rushed. I had the idea as I started ****writing, then I suddenly just drew a blank. Once I finally remembered, I typed in one word and we had to go to the stinking outlet mall. We didn't get back home for probably six hours after that and I had to take another hour to remember what the heck the whole story was about. So, that's my day.**

**I hope you guys make your day great!**


	6. Chapter 6

Wash carried Erin back to red base, deciding to stay. Upon arrival, both of them had noticed the more enthusiastic tone in Caboose's voice and the appearance of a male and female in full body armor, excluding their helmet.

"Epsilon? Carolina?" Washington spoke to the two people in front of him, remembering that they left once again about a week ago to continue what ever they were doing before the red and blues had gotten in the middle of chorus's 'civil war,'"When did you get back?"

"Hey Wash." The man, presumably Epsilon, turned around, "We just got here about half an hour ago. We checked blue base, but no one was there." He noticed Erin, whom Agent Washington had just set down onto the ground, "What's with the kid?"

Erin looked up at the face of familiarity. She did not quite remember him, but found herself crying and charging at him in order to give him a hug.

"... Rebekah?" He looked down at the girl, who continued to cry. Looks of confusion took control of everyone, except for Wash.

"Church." Caboose spoke slowly, as if he thought his friend wouldn't understand his words, "That's not Rebekah. That's Erin! We found her in the woods!"

He watched the child cling to him, "Yeah, you're probably right. There's no way this is her." His voice got quieter, "Is it?"

"Who's Rebekah?" Agent Carolina turned to face her AI friend.

"A girl." He sighed, "She died from cancer while she was still a toddler."

"Alright, let me rephrase this." She took a moment of thought, "What is your relation to Rebekah?"

He looked down at the child. There was no mistake that this had been the same girl he had been thinking of. He let out a hesitant sigh, "She was the Director's eldest daughter."

"So, wait a minute," She was a little shocked, "how come I grew up and never heard about this?"

Erin finally got control over her body once again, "I-I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist, "I don't know what came over me."

He bent over to pick the child up, who fidgeted at first, "It's alright."

"Wow, Church." Tucker prevented a laugh, "I never thought you could be so... um... nice." He let out a faint laugh.

"She's a kid, not a soldier." He examined the child, as if trying to find some proof that she was different from the girl he thought she was. He couldn't find a single freckle different, which is funny, since the girl has no freckles.

"You alright there, Epsilon?" Wash watched the confusion written over the program's face.

"Y-yeah." He stammered, "I'll talk to you guys about it when she's not in earshot.

"Alright, then." The ex-freelancer sighed, "She's been complaining how hungry she was at the half way point here, so I'm going to go make her a salami and cheese sandwich." He started for the kitchen.

"Pastrami?" Caboose asked, following Washington.

"No Caboose. Salami."

"Calamari?"

"No Caboose." He sighed, hoping the soldier would bring his sphere of idiocracy somewhere else.

"Cheesecake?" The cobalt soldier asked with pleading eyes.

"Yes, Caboose." He responded sarcastically, "Because cheesecake sounds a lot like salami."

"It sure does." He cheered.

Wash had opened the fridge and held out a pack of salami, "Now tell me, does this look like cheesecake to you?"

"A very protein filled cheesecake, yes."

"Go back and talk to Epsilon." He gathered some more supplies from the fridge that he strangely knew where everything was... why did he know where everything was? This was the complete opposite base his team spends most of their wasted time in.

"Alright!" The soldier spun around a whole 540 degrees then marched off to the main room, where everyone had been.

Back in the main room, Erin had just been sitting there, staring at the floor as everyone else had been talking, trying to catch up. Church couldn't shake the feeling that the girl was the Director's daughter. He was sure that Rebekah had died, but then again, both the reds and blues think someone's dead and find them alive later on. She just sat there, looking as if she would fall asleep.

"Church?" Agent Carolina had noticed her colleague's strange actions, "Ever thing alright there?"

"I don't know anymore." He shrugged, "It's probably the Director's hope of bringing back the dead that's catching me."

"Maybe she just looks similar."

"Either way," Tucker intervened, and had obviously been listening to the conversation, "the kid has amnesia. She doesn't remember who she is nor where she came from. She may have tackled you, thinking you have the answers." They watched the girl, as she had already been asleep.

Church sighed, sitting down next to the girl, but not bothering to wake her up, "She has to be dead, though. She had chordoma and melanoma. She also had narcolepsy, but that wouldn't have killed her. There was no way she survived."

"Is that why she kept falling asleep on us yesterday?" Tucker laughed a bit, only understanding the narcolepsy part, but made sure to keep his voice low, "Well then, maybe she is your little Rebekah." He joked. Church just watched the child. She behaved exactly like Rebekah, even if she had amnesia.

"What's narcoleprechan?" Caboose had snuck behind his leader. Church hadn't noticed when he got there, but it was great to have him around.

"Narcolepsy is a condition where you can pretty much fall asleep on a dime." Church smiled.

"How can someone fall asleep on a dime?" The rookie pouted, "It's too small to lie down on."

"It's a metaphor." The older man laughed, "The phrase 'on a dime' means very quickly." He rephrased his sentence.

"Oh!" The cobalt soldier now watched the sleeping child, "... I still don't quite get it," He turned to now face Church and put on a dorky grin, "but I guess it doesn't matter."

"Of course she's asleep." Wash had been standing is the door way between the kitchen and main room, holding a plate with a sandwich on it, "Now, what have you guys been up to?"

"Trying to figure out this epidemic." Church sighed.

"Well, she's asleep, if you'd like to explain." Carolina knelt down, obviously wanting to know further about this girl she hadn't heard about once in her life,

He gave off another sigh, watching his colleagues gather around him in wonderment, "I'll explain, but you can't repeat it to the kid." He faced the curled up child, moved his head to look at Carolina, then ducked his head to face the ground, "You guys know that before expeditions and civil war on this planet, there was an Earth colony here on Chorus, right?"

"Never heard of that." Wash set the plate down, incase Erin woke up anytime soon.

"Well, when Rebekah was about five and Carolina was two, the Director and Allison had moved here. They were told that the environment would be good for her condition." He scoffed.

"What was her condition?" The ex-Freelancer asked as everyone faced him for a moment, "What?"

"That's right, you weren't here for that conversation. She had melanoma and chordama."

"I don't think that's possible." Simmons intervened, "Based off the story, you're saying that she's had that since she was at least five when she got both types of cancers. Isn't leukemia the only cancer that can be found in small children?"

"Sound like someone needs to read The Fault in our Stars." Donut giggled.

"That story's fiction."

"It was based on a real story." The lightish-red armored soldier argued, "The author's friend actually died from thyroid cancer."

"I'm not going to ask how you know this," Tucker interrupted their conversation, "but Church isn't done."

"Thank you, Tucker." Church shifted his weight just slightly to the right, "We spent the next..." He was motionless, "two years on this planet, long before she died. We buried her, held a funeral, then left. Years later, Allison died, Project Freelancer was made, and we're here today."

"I like that story." Caboose gave off a dorky smile.

"Caboose," Tucker laughed, "do you even understand the ending of that?"

"No," He laughed with the older soldier, "but it was told by Church, so it must be good."

* * *

**So sorry, but I'm ending here. Please read and review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I posted a preface to this! Check out Kappa: The Preface.**

* * *

After about a week, everything finally became routine. Erin had been a bit less eager after they got Church (or Epsilon as Wash continued to call him) and Agent Carolina to Blue base. Everything was peaceful. They got the kid to stop spouting out binary and error codes. Everything became confusing on the day Church decided he wanted to check out specific coordinates on the rock of a planet.

"I promised a kid that I would visit these coordinates." Church argued with Washington.

"We don't even know how far away those will lead us." He fought back, "And then what? What happens if we're in danger and can't find out way back?"

"According to the GPS," Carolina interrupted the boys' argument, " The coordinates X:347, Y:-482 is at the top of the cliff over there." She pointed at what appeared to be a steep incline that would probably take ten minutes to get to and about forty-five minutes, at the least to climb.

"See, Wash. Not that far." Church stuck out his tongue at the soldier and reached for his helmet, "If you guys don't want to come, then suit yourselves, but I'm climbing that."

"Mr. Church?" Erin tugged at the older man's left arm, "Can I come with you?" He turned his gaze to the cliff, then at the kid, and finally at Washington with a confused look. No, not confused. More like a plea for help with his facial expressions.

"I thought you usually don't like to get into danger." The ex-Freelancer laughed as he tried to pick up the girl.

"But I wanna go with Epsilon!" She whined like a child. Well, she is technically a child. An older than Carolina year old child, but a child none the less.

Wash looked up at Epsilon. They both knew that she won't just abandon her want to tag along, "Can you make sure you're extremely careful?"

"Can't you try to convince her?" He laughed, "I don't want to be liable if she trips and slides down."

"I'll behave." The child pouted.

"She'll be fine." Wash spoke, remembering his previous, and short, conversations between him and the Kappa AI's memories. Really, if they wanted fragments, they should've tried transfer failures. It obviously seems to work.

"Fine, you say?" Church went wide eyed, surprised that Wash hadn't really attempted to convince her otherwise, "If she falls and breaks a bone, and or dies, will you say she's fine?"

"Epsilon. Just trust me on this one."

"Alright." He was defeated and turned to face the child, whom never seemed to pay attention to details, "You wanna come with me, Kid?"

"Yes, please, Mr. Church." She giggled.

"I've told you that you can just call my Church." He started walking in the direction Carolina had said the coordinates were located.

"Church?" Carolina followed as Erin just tagged along, keeping quiet, "Are you sure you want to go now?"

"Hey, I told you that I made a promise." He laughed, "And besides, what's the worst that could happen? It's just a cliff."

* * *

After the three of them reached the top of the cliff, Church had taken off his helmet and they hung their legs off the edge for a moment. They had to account for the possibility that the kid would be exhausted.

"We could have brought lunch up here." Carolina has her gaze set on the box canyon below them, "The view is beautiful."

"Mhmm." Erin agreed with her, directing her gaze specifically upon blue base. She felt like she's seen this scenery before, although maybe without all the noticeable wear and tear, but how she knew the place was the question. When had she previously been here, and why? Church stood up, stretched his arms out, and started walking.

"And where do you think you're going?" She turned to face the man, who had been behind her.

"Following the coordinates." He pointed in the direction he was heading for.

"Men are so stubborn." She laughed and stood up for herself. Erin followed.

"How much further away?"

"About one hundred feet."

"That's far!" The child whined.

"It's actually fairly close." He laughed, then he noticed something. It was like a bolder, roughly three feet in diameter. He ran up to it, walked around, and saw a smooth stone resting on the ground, "I think I may have found it!" He yelled with just a little enthusiasm as he wiped the dust off of it. He was nearly paralyzed, for what he found he had not wanted to see again. 'Rebekah Jay Church' read across the top, '2529-2537. May she not suffer in death.' He felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He moved his hand down to the lower right corner, but stopped when he realized something etched in almost childish handwriting. 'Three feet to the right lies Agent Oregon. 2541-2568 May his death not be in vain. You will be missed. -K'

"Everything alright?" Carolina noticed the sick expression that started to grow across the AI's face.

"M-maybe we should... we should get back to the box-canyon." He picked his helmet up and started walking.

"But we just got here!" The little girl pouted.

Carolina walked after Church, "What did you find?" She asked in a low, but strict, voice.

"If you want to read it, go ahead." He turned to face the woman, who just stared back at him for a long moment at started walking behind the bolder once again. Erin had already been there, but she just stared blankly at it. The older woman knelt down in front of the smooth stone and read it over. She read over both what was in the center and in the corner.

"So Agent Oregon was killed in action." Was all she said.

"You don't care about, you know, the main thing of that instead of whatever the heck happened in that corner?" Church snapped a bit.

"You don't have to be an asshole." She laughed, "I actually personally knew Oregon. He didn't die when I was four or five."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm heading back."

"Kay!" Erin cheered as she followed the man.


End file.
